September 19, 2006
Constitutional crisis/military coup in Thailand
The Thai military has seized power from the government, revoking the constitution and declaring martial law. This does not seem to be a descent into dictatorship, at least not yet, as the military has declared their loyalty to the highly respected king (American born, oddly enough).
I'm not exactly sure of the immediate reasons/motivations, but it probably has something to do with the annuled election earlier this year. A timeline of events is available here.
The (former?) Prime Minister of Thailand has been accused of abuses of power, related at minimum to the sale of the national Thai telecommunications company to a Singapore outfit for a cool $1.9 billion. Tax-free.
This would go on a list of things-that-piss-people-off, unless I've missed my guess.
